Ralph S Bruner wrote:
Hey Paul and to everyone else,

Some time ago the Rotary web site featured a person named Dave Garber.
Dave
built a one off airplane racer with two rotary engines.  A very
different
design.  One engine pulling and one engine pushing.  The point of the
story.
Dave took off from Athens airport (Ben Epps Airport) a few weeks ago
in
his
1957 Fuji LM-1.

Here is a link to the Athens paper

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/102309/new_508159323.shtml

I will miss Dave he was a good friend.

Ralph



Yes we know Ralph.

Here are some pictures of Dave's rotary. He was a pioneer in Mazda
rotary
powered
aircraft. A great friend and visionary.

Paul Lamar

--
Paul
Did Dave ever fly the DG-1?How did it perform?  Looks like it would
be a rocket.

Mike C.

Yes he did but he never solved the cooling problems. He tried using
NACA
scoops/ducts
but they did not work. He needed P51 scoop/ducts. I tried to help
but Dave
wanted me to
take it over but I did not have the room in my hangar. Also the Reno
guys
changed the
rules with a minimum weight for the unlimited class. That is always
bad
news for high
power to weight ratio rotary engines. It did not qualify for the
sportsman
class which
requires two seats among other things. As far as I can tell this may
have
been the first
Wankel powered aircraft to fly.

Paul Lamar


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Actually Paul it doesn't appear to be the first to fly.  The
Lockheed QT-2
built in 1967 flew with a 185 hpCurtis Wright engine in an ultra
quiet (hard
to believe with a peripheral exhaust port back in the day) intended
to be
recon aircraft with a slow turning prop.  They built a couple but
eventually
converted the design it to an IO-360 Lycoming for use in the
field.File
notes show that Curtiss Wright may have actually flown the engine in
another
aircraft before then.  The rotary-powered QT-2 was an unusual
configuration
aircraft  We found it doing technical research in old NASA and Curtiss
Wright files about 1985 when doing research for our first prototype
rotary
engine.  Phil Meng at NASA later provided addition information when we
started test flights of the prototype in 1988.


Steve Beckham

All the European engines were peripheral intake ports. NSU etc. etc..

I think that particular CW engine was a side port.

Paul Lamar

Speaking of CW, has anyone made a move on the stash?

Chris C.

Would you care to explain that? :)

Paul Lamar

I was trying to be discreet in case it was you...

The stash of CW parts and molds at an undisclosed location in
Florida... that stash.

Chris Cosman

I would love to have them but I would need a warehouse to store all that stuff in.

I think the guys that have it know its worth.

Paul Lamar